Force 10 from Navarone — Force 10 from Navarone- Ltd edition Blu Ray box
Before we get to the film itself I really want to address the amazing cast list, much like J. Lee Thompson did with the earlier Guns of Navarone, Hamilton gathered together a cast of big hitters, the legendary Robert Shaw (Jaws, The Battle of Britain), the young upcoming star Harrison Ford, whose role as Han Solo in the previous year’s Star Wars film had rocketed him to stardom, Barbara Bach (Short Night of Glass Dolls and The Spy Who Loved Me), Edward Fox (Day of the Jackal), Carl Weathers (Rocky), Richard Kiel (The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker) and Django himself, Italian legend Franco Nero. Hamilton obviously meant business and was determined to make a sequel worthy of the first film, the big question is did he, let’s find out?
Firstly, before we start it’s worth mentioning that this two-disc edition features both the 126-minute extended version of the film and the original 118-minute theatrical cut. For the purpose of this review, I watched the longer cut. Mallory (Robert Shaw) and Miller (Edward Fox) are sent back into action to hunt down the double-agent Nikolai who has allegedly infiltrated the Partisan forces in Yugoslavia. They are booked onto a flight with Colonel Barnsby (Ford) who is leading a secret mission ‘Force 10’ into Yugoslavia. After they are attacked, the few remaining survivors bail out of the aircraft and find themselves taken captive by Drazak (Richard Kiel) and his people who are working for the Germans. Mallory and Barnsby escape with the help of a young woman fighter (Maritza) who sends them off to meet with the Partisan leader Petrovitch. Petrovitch has a problem, he needs to blow up a bridge, but he doesn’t have the firepower to do it, Mallory suggests that Miller is the man to do the job, due to his explosives expertise and off he and Barnsby go back to Drazak’s camp to free their friends with the help of Lescovar (Nero) the man suspected of being double-agent Nikolai.
Force 10 takes on a more tongue in cheek approach to the original film, the interplay between Shaw and Fox as Mallory and Miller is excellent, both actors showing their pedigree, while Ford offers up a very solid performance as Barnsby, the rest of the cast are top-notch too, Franco Nero and Barbara Bach being the standouts for me.
Overall, the film is a solid, fun action movie, not in the same league as the original, but certainly better than its rather poor reputation. The print here is top-notch, sharp, clean and the colours are natural and there is no bleed. The discs are something else though, loaded with bonus materials, including an audio commentary with Steve Mitchell and Steven Jay Robin as well as archive footage and numerous short production documentaries, they really have gone all out on this release. All in all, this is a wonderful set for an underrated film.